How Might a Narrative Therapist Separate the Person from the Problem

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The Answer is A narrative therapist might separate the person from the problem by employing a technique known as "externalization." This approach is a cornerstone of narrative therapy, which was developed by Michael White and David Epston. The process involves helping the client to see the problem as something that is not inherent to their identity but rather as an external entity that influences their life and relationships.

Here's how a narrative therapist might facilitate this separation:

1. **Naming the Problem**: The therapist encourages the client to give the problem a name. This could be anything from "the Depression" to "the Anxiety" or "the Conflict." By naming the problem, it becomes a distinct entity, separate from the person.

2. **Mapping the Problem's Effects**: The therapist and client explore how the problem has been affecting the client's life. They discuss the problem's influence on the client's thoughts, behaviors, relationships, and self-image. This helps to further distinguish the person from the problem.

3. **Exploring the Problem's Origins**: The therapist helps the client to investigate where the problem came from and how it gained influence in their life. This exploration can reduce the sense of personal failure or self-blame that the client might feel.

4. **Identifying Unique Outcomes**: The therapist works with the client to identify times when the client was able to resist the influence of the problem or times when the problem was less dominant in their life. These "unique outcomes" help to demonstrate that the client is not completely controlled by the problem.

5. **Developing an Alternative Narrative**: The therapist assists the client in constructing a new narrative about their life, one that emphasizes their abilities, hopes, values, commitments, and competencies. This narrative is separate from the problem-saturated story that the problem has been telling about their life.

6. **Strengthening the Preferred Narrative**: The client is encouraged to take actions that support the new narrative and to recognize and celebrate these actions as evidence of their agency and identity separate from the problem.

7. **Recruiting a Supportive Audience**: The therapist may involve significant others in the therapy process to help reinforce the new, preferred narrative. This could be through letters, ceremonies, or direct participation in therapy sessions.

By externalizing the problem, narrative therapists help clients to see that they are not the problem; the problem is the problem. This shift in perspective can be incredibly empowering, as it allows individuals to engage with their issues in a more objective and manageable way, and it opens up space for change and growth that is consistent with the client's preferred way of being.

How Might a Narrative Therapist Separate the Person from the Problem

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